ride heights with the advanced suspension

[ryanprins13]

I was asked by a few people about ride heights changing with these bushings I am selling (here: https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showt...spring-bushing ) . The coilovers I personally have are aspire kyb's and are much different than the advanced setup so I asked Ryal (dragonhealer) about it. This is what he sent back to me. This is just what works well for him, you can do whatever ride heights you want in whatever way you want, this is to give an idea of what has worked well for him. I seem to recall reading in the original suspension thread that having the rear pinch weld measurement the same as the front was optimal for handling on the street setup, but i could be wrong, that may have changed, and whatever works best for you is best; Setting the rear low, throwing a bunch of weight in the back and having your tires rub isn't ideal.
I think it would be neat if people wanted to reply in this thread with what ride heights they are using with the advanced suspension, for what purpose they have it set like that (street use, autocross, track....), if they did any custom stuff to achieve that and if they tried other heights that didn't work as well.


I'll take Ethel apart tonight and photograph everything, and give measurements of my 3 basic setups, perhaps that will help....

There are many ways to set up the rear suspension without these bushings, so to show ride heights all I can do is show the setups we are using with these bushings.

Towing:



Ethel: Towing setup, full Advanced suspension with the 40A rear spring to body bushings.
Front 120lb/in 12" preset to 10 inches.
Rear 150lb/in 10", KYB MK1 VW, 4" coilover sleeve installed upside down, adjuster nut all the way up.
Rod spacer under body, providing max droop possible.
Achilles Economist 165/55-14 tyres. 25psi front/ 42psi rear
stock 1.3L engine in stock location



Front at jack point



Rod spacer is under body, providing max droop (down travel / rebound)



150lb/in as installed for towing



150lb/in towing setup



Rear at jack point



Towing setup parts location
4" coilover sleeve, 4-1/2" bumpstop slightly modified,, 1/8" aluminum washer .437" ID (shaft is ,425") by 1.8" OD, delrin spacer 7/16" ID by 1.8" OD by 3/4" thick, Mazda or Festiva under body rubber, Mazda or Festiva upper rubber, Mazda or Festiva upper rubber retainer



Towing



Towing
Should have noted on that last, sleeve is installed upside down for more lift.



Lower mount mod

Note: to set upper shaft rubber tension, jack axle beam corner up till car is lifted on that rear corner, finger tighten nut down onto upper rubber retainer washer, tighten 3-1/2 additional turns only, install lock nut. Having that nut too tight causes problems.

Street setup:



Same parts location for 105lb/in springs for street setup as the towing setup.
With the Achilles, tyre pressure should be 28psi all 4



Street setup, same front as before, rear 105lb/in springs, adjuster all the way up on upside down coilover sleeve.



Ethel street setup, front



Ethel street setup, rear



Ethel street setup, shaft all the way down for max droop, spacer is under body,


Track setup:



Track setup on Achilles Economist.
Tyre pressures, hot: front 35psi, rear 37psi.
Spare and rear seat removed.



Track setup front



Track setup rear



Parts location
Coilover sleeve upside down, adjuster 1-1/4" down from top.
Spacer is above body to limit droop as droop is increased by lowering.
In this setup, front droop (from static ride hight) is 3-1/4" and rear is 2 inches



Ethel track setup
I should note the upper rubber retainer had its hole enlarged to 7/16 to go above the bump stop in this setup



The overall length of the mount tube with fitted spacer should be 1.850 inch





I asked: "Just to confirm, the street setup has the adjuster nut in the same location as the towing setup?"

Yes, and that is its highest setting, people can go lower if they wish, this is where I like it because I often throw a lot of weight in the back.....

If someone needs a higher ride hight, a close pipe nipple can go under the sleeve as a spacer. I have done this, it works.

Charlie did note his Advanced Suspension lowered the car about one inch at it's highest adjustment

[w4rkry]

What exactly is the point of the spacer? I guess I don't really understand what it is doing for the strut.

Does Ryal run any setup with the sleeve in the "normal" position? Is there any benefits/downsides to running it "normal" if you don't need the extra lift?

Very nice writeup up and pictures by the way, everything here is clear and easy to follow, well written and well formatted!

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[ryanprins13]

What exactly is the point of the spacer? I guess I don't really understand what it is doing for the strut.

Does Ryal run any setup with the sleeve in the "normal" position? Is there any benefits/downsides to running it "normal" if you don't need the extra lift?

Very nice writeup up and pictures by the way, everything here is clear and easy to follow, well written and well formatted!

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

It sets the static doop i believe its called. Its been talked about in the advanced suspension thread. Someone who understands it better than me would have to explain it. I skimmed over things like that which i didnt believe were relevant to me as i was reading that thread and i dont understand it well enough.

And yes, that was really nice of ryal to do all that and send it to me over the holidays!

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[Dragonhealer]

What exactly is the point of the spacer? I guess I don't really understand what it is doing for the strut.

Does Ryal run any setup with the sleeve in the "normal" position? Is there any benefits/downsides to running it "normal" if you don't need the extra lift?

Very nice writeup up and pictures by the way, everything here is clear and easy to follow, well written and well formatted!

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

The upper end of the shock shaft is generously long, giving us the opportunity to adjust the shock piston hight within the shock. This directly affects how much droop (down travel) you get, and to a minor degree the speed of valve initiation and to a greater degree the initial ratio of bump to rebound resistance. The amount of droop is the importnt thing in this case, as it controls the amount of body roll bfore lifting the inside rear. For street (full of potholes here)/off-road, you want more droop, hence the spacer under the body, mounting the shock piston shaft as low as possible.
The threaded sleeve need not be fitted upside down if you don't need that last 1/2 inch of lift.

[mikemounlio]

I thought for the track we want the car to be level. Is this not the case anymore?

[Dragonhealer]

I thought for the track we want the car to be level. Is this not the case anymore?

Depends on the setup Mike!
Ethel is stock 1.3 and I wanted to refine the Advanced Suspension for this.
The track setup for Ethel was developed with only 2 drivers, and specifically with the Achilles Economist 165-55/14 tyres.
Generalities across the board are only guide lines in the absence of data.
I suspect Ethel could be faster lowering the rear only if I shortened the shock shaft, beyond the scope of this project.

[mikemounlio]

I see. thanks

[ryanprins13]

I see. thanks

How is yours set up and do you have any kind of spacer on the top of the rear strut shaft?

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[Advancedynamix]

I thought for the track we want the car to be level. Is this not the case anymore?

Driving traction is not as much of a concern with a B3 powered Festiva. With more TQ, lap times would improve with the front of the car raised to match the rear.

[mikemounlio]

How is yours set up and do you have any kind of spacer on the top of the rear strut shaft?

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I have my rear using the stock black spring locator turned upside down. I think i have a picture ill upload it if i do.

[mikemounlio]

Driving traction is not as much of a concern with a B3 powered Festiva. With more TQ, lap times would improve with the front of the car raised to match the rear.

That makes sense thanks for clearing that up.

[Dragonhealer]

Driving traction is not as much of a concern with a B3 powered Festiva. With more TQ, lap times would improve with the front of the car raised to match the rear.

Guess I'll jack the front up 1/2 an inch Sunday and retest.

[skeeters_keeper]

I've got the flipped spring perches like Mike does also. With the stock rubber isolator installed they are about 7/8" from the top of the spring to the body. Ryan's design is 1" - so almost the same as the flipped spring perch. I've been quite happy with the flipped perch, it provides the same amount of isolation as stock and puts the spring in a more usable location than the thin top hats I used originally that rode on the lower strut bushing.

I'm really looking forward to trying Ryan's perches out, they should make a pretty good improvement in the rear!

[mikemounlio]

Thanks Nate. Glad to hear others are liking what i did.

[fudge]

So I have a question about the tires achilles economist; a lot of us seem to be using them. Last autocross was my first season and I was using achilles economist 165/50/15 stretched on 15x7 wheels. I felt like I was having traction issues because every time I turned (even a little bit) the car would rotate or lose traction. Now I know this could have been because of my inexperience, lift-off oversteer, tire temperature, tire stretch or that the tires were a few months old or a combination of many things, etc.
But I am stuck with my bias that these tires just lacked grip. All you guys seem to use them and love them, and I do too for daily driving but I want different ones for autocross.

Also my setup is bp/hydro g, advanced suspension 150/120. I liked how the car felt but I have been told that 120/105 is better. Why is that?

Not to thread jack I posted this because I thought of this while reading through the posts

Very excited to try Ryan's new product!